Chinese bike-sharing start-up Ofo has raised at least $1bn from investors including ecommerce group Alibaba, according to two sources familiar with the deal.The company is valued at $3bn, roughly the same as its rival Mobike with which it dominates the fast-growing market.
Ofo has put 10m dockless bikes on China’s city streets, as well as 100,000 in 19 more countries , including an aggressive push into the UK and the US.
“Mobike versus Ofo is not just a battle between the two companies, but the whole ecosystem of services that their [respective] backers Tencent and Alibaba have created,” said Xue Yu, an analyst at IDC, the research company. Ofo and Alibaba declined to comment.